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FEDERATION OF AMERICAN MUSICIANS, SINGERS AND PERFORMING ARTISTS, INCORPORATED (FAMSPA), USA
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Visit the website of the World Who's Who in Jazz, Cabaret, Music and Entertainment, published by the Federation of American Musicians, Singers and Performing Artists. Read about the listees and purchase your copies at http://www.worldwhoswhoinjazzcabaretmusicandentertainment.com/

 

SHOWBIZ TIME MAGAZINE. April-May Issue P.13                                                   Cover of the Magazine     Table of Contents     
Artists Biographies: Honoring the best in the business

   Antoinette Montague; powerful...be careful, she will steal your heart!

Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Antoinette grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn.  “I was singing and humming from an early age.  It was how I created my own private, comforting world.”  In the fourth grade, Antoinette would go to the local library and listen to albums by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith.  Other influences were the R&B-soul of The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, the Jackson 5, Jackie Wilson, Stevie Wonder and Otis Redding; and singers as varied as Mahalia Jackson, Maime Smith, Paul Robeson, Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, Tony Bennett, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Little Willie John, Etta James, Patsy Cline and Nancy Wilson. Antoinete was mentored by some great singers – Carrie Smith (“She inspired me to have a big voice onstage”), Etta Jones (“She could transport the audience”), Della Griffin (“She showed me laid-back phrasing and how to use the comic side of my personality”) and Myrna Lake (“She let me sub for her and that’s when I learned to lead a band through three sets a night”). 

 

In addition, Montague has performed onstage with many top jazz and blues musicians including Red Holloway, Benny Powell, Earl May, Winnard Harper, Wycliff Gordon, Stan Hope, John DiMartino, Bernard Purdy, Victor Jones, Tootsie Bean, Zeek Mullins, Paul Bollenbeck, Frank West and numerous others. Before headlining her own shows, she sat in on hundreds of gigs in an effort to practice her craft, learn the ropes and work her way into the music scene.  The past decade Antoinette has been one of the hardest-working jazz-and-blues singers in New York City. 

For example, on Monday nights when there are jam sessions at clubs all over town, she would often sing a song or two with the Harlem Renaissance Band at Lucy’s and then hop over to 125th Street to vocalize in front of the Cotton Club Big Band directed by Ed Passant.  Montague has worked regularly with Bill Easley, Tom Aalfs and Mike Longo’s New York State of the Art Band (including the 88th Birthday Celebration of Dizzy Gillespie). She also was in the Great Women in Music Festival at Birdland with the Duke Ellington Band, directed by Jack Jeffers and filmed for television by the BET on Jazz channel.  Antoinette performed at the 10th Anniversary of International Women in Jazz (she serves as the Vice President of that organization), and the NAACP’s Tribute to Milt Jackson. In the music world, jazz and blues have a long history as close companions, but singer Antoinette Montague joins those genres in holy matrimony on her debut album, PRETTY BLUES. The phrase “Pretty Blues” is simply another way of describing Antoinette’s jazzy-blues. 

 

 

 Her strength is combining the heartfelt passion of the blues with the sophistication of jazz.  Her style can be powerful one moment and soft-and-delicate the next.  Her lusty and soulful voice reaches right into the heart of the listener. “At times I have been called a jazz singer who can belt the blues, and other times they say I am a blues singer who can swing with a jazz band,” states Montague.  “I don’t care.  I am just happy to be a singer.  Period.  I’m just letting it flow however it goes.  Of course I mix jazz and blues.  It’s natural to take all of your inspirations and blend them together.  You also might hear me throw in a little gospel, R&B, Motown soul or big-band stylings.  We build on what came before.  The classic example is Billie Holliday, who was influenced by Bessie Smith’s blues, but Billie took it into more of a jazz direction.” For PRETTY BLUES, Montague assembled a top band of some of the best jazz masters in the country with a wealth of credits -– pianist Mulgrew Miller (Woody Shaw, Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Branford Marsalis, Cassandra Wilson, Dianne Reeves), tenor saxophonist and flutist Bill Easley (Duke Ellington Orchestra, Benny Carter, Ruth Brown, George Benson, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Isaac Hayes, Dakota Staton), drummer Kenny Washington (Lee Konitz, Betty Carter, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Joshua Redman, Phil Woods), and bassist Peter Washington (Art Blakey, Benny Green, Lionel Hampton, Marlena Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, Michal Urbaniak).  Montague co-produced with musical director Kenny Washington while Miller contributed arrangements Agent: Joe Pedoto at premiumblend@optonline.net. Website: www.antoinettemontague.com